MAR 6 Monday.

I stare at the standing log thirty feet away from me in the grass field that makes up most of Gaia's Eden.

The last remains of winter have faded weeks ago and spring is now in full swing. The trees are filling in with green and the forest's darkness grows with each passing day as the trees block out more and more light. Along with the grass once again growing tall into the air.

My frost crop breeding has once again stopped but I feel that it can wait until next winter. Three crops is enough for now and waiting a year won't make much of a difference overall and it lets me focus on other things for the year. Things like learning how to kill from a distance.

A spell matrix with four rings quickly flashes in the air before vanishing as a crack sounds out. The slight flash of light as a small bolt of lightning moves faster than my eye can track before slamming into the log opposite of me. The wood splinters a little at the connection point and the log is singed on the point of impact.

The spell is not that strong and would only do limited damage, and armor could block it easily, but it's progress and after modifying it the spell takes far less magic than the original. The spell is called Lightning Bolt, the weakest lightning spell the book had and the easiest to learn.

It may be weak, but it's still not a lot stronger than a Firebolt but costs several times more magic than a Firebolt. That's after the modifications, before that the Lightning Bolt spell cost nearly thirty times what a normal Firebolt costs. However, I decided against improving the spell strength for now and focus on practice.

The past two weeks have been both relaxing and interesting. First and foremost, I sent a letter to Celestia asking for a favor, something I've rarely done. I asked her to let Avalon also work under an alias and release our work in a long letter explaining the situation and my plan.

The next day I got a letter agreeing happily to the plan along with adding to it in her own special way. She suggested I come over a day early and spend the night at the palace before setting out with Cadance the next day on the trip. I don't know why she asked, or what it has to do with my plan but I felt like it would be entertaining so I agreed to the unknown plan she had.

I spent another hour firing bolts of lightning while running around the log and repairing it with my life magic until my magic was drained nearly dry. Lightning spells really do take a lot of magic, even after my optimization. I might actually need to look into fully remaking these spells to improve them more at some point down the line.

It's not quite time to leave so I spend some time relaxing and drinking tea. After a few minutes, Entropy appears next to me with a small branch from the Cherry Blossom trees in her beak, it has a few vibrant flowers on it. I smile at her, "And what have you gotten up to?" I ask as she hops over to place the flowered branch in front of me before cuddling up in between my forelegs. "Well, aren't you just a romantic."

She chirps a little. "Happy, adventure!" Entropy is like most crows, she's a curious being and she is quite excited about our trip. She's even asked about it often over the last two weeks. "Go now?" I smile at her excited tone and feed her a treat for using two words continuously.

It's not something she does often, but very slowly she's getting better at talking in a more normal manner. "Not quite yet, and remember to behave, I don't need you causing trouble," I warn good-naturedly as she moves her head like she's annoyed at being reminded.

"Know, good." She caws out as I open the illusionary notebook in my bracelet and start to draw a picture of the growing forest and the Gold Oak. Over the last year, I've dumped any leftover life magic I have into it at the end of every day I can, and the results are pretty good.

The Gold Oak now stands over ten feet tall, double it's starting height, and its abilities are growing with its size. There is a zone of increased life magic density around the tree, it increases the ambient life magic by a little less than a third of what is normal in the Everfree.

But at the start, it only extended around five feet from the tree and now it's doubled with the tree size to ten feet as well. Another thing to keep in mind is that the larger the Gold Oak grows the more leaves fall and the more gold dust collects. All these observations have sparked my interest with the Gold Oak again.

I still have no way of taking wood from it and no branches seem to have died over time, but even just the gold dust has proven very interesting. It has become a valuable resource but its activation method is still a mystery to me, and I have actually tested a few things about that point.

I tried to narrow down what it could be interacting with but have had no luck so far. I've tried any kind of metal I could get easily and I've even started to use it on everyday objects to see if anything would happen. But like I said no luck so far and from the looks of it not anytime soon either.

I finish my drawing in the afternoon and check the time to see that I need to get going. I look down and gently shake Entropy awake. "Time to go Girl." She nods and stretches out her wings, batting them into my face, before jumping on my back and moving us before I can complain.

I stumble a bit as we appear inside the mail room and I turn to her with a slight glare as she just tilts her head like she's confused when we both know damn well what she did. I sigh after a moment, "Ok, you got me there." I admit with a chuckle and she melds into my shadow as I near the door.

As I leave a guard I recognize is standing there. "Captain Shining Armor." I greet a little smugly and the Shining looks at me blankly.

"Researcher Shade Evergreen." His tone is professional. I shudder a bit at the very formal greeting and tone he uses along with my official job title. "Ya, she told me that would work." He chuckles a bit and my mind sorts through his words. Great, it seems either Cadance or Celestia has dragged Shining into our little games.

I smile back after a moment and tap his armor, a second later he sees that it's turned entirely bright red. "And she did not tell you I tend to take revenge." I canceled the spell as it was more to make a point than anything. "Now let's get going, I have two princesses to take revenge on. Nice to see you by the way."

He just smiles at the joke and turns to lead with me walking beside him. "Same to you Shade, where did you even get a spell like that?" He asks curiously while keeping his tone mostly professional. I think about how to answer for a few moments. I've not told Shining that I'm Veil Winter, and I don't think I will right now, he knows a few secrets and I wouldn't mind sharing a few more small ones, but not something like that.

"Classified," I answer smugly and he rolls his eyes as we walk through the hallways in silence for a while. After a few minutes we arrive at Celestia's office and to my surprise Shining follows me inside I enter, but that surprise clears up seeing Cadance inside lying on the couch. "Huh, a nice little get-together then?"

For a few moments I feel my paranoia try to make me panic a little, but I tamp that down quickly. This panic comes from the fact that I never told Shining about two things, I'm close friends with Celestia and Entropy. But after a few moments of thought, I relax and accept the outcome.

I was truthful about trusting him a bit more. Honestly, I would rather not walk on eggshells whenever I talk to both Shining and Celestia at the same time, I just don't want to deal with that It's not like he will say anything, he knows well the need to keep a relationship with a princess on the down low, and honestly it will be pretty funny.

As for Entropy? Well, I think it will be good for her to interact with more ponies like herself, not under an illusion. It's something that I've realized, Entropy is often under an illusion around others and I worry that could affect her in some way, it hasn't to the best of my knowledge, but I'm no expert. My earlier point about not wanting to be on constant watch around him still stands for this as well.

That and I've grown to trust Shining more, not with everything but his learning more should be fine. Especially with things related to him, or close enough to that. I will also admit that knowing I can beat him in a fight brings me some comfort about him knowing my secrets.

The final thing that made me calm down was the simple fact that Celestia is in the room, and I trust her, so I'll let this go and let things develop. Plus this could be a little fun. Shining nods in getting to Celestia and she smiles at us both. "Thank you Shining, would you mind waiting outside for a while?" She asks with her mask still in place and Shining nods professionally.

I interrupt her and wave a hoof while sitting down next to Cadance on the couch. "He can stay if he likes." She turns to me with a raised brow and I shrug a bit. "What? Shining's a decent stallion, and I honestly can't bother with secrets right now, come on in and become thoroughly confused Shining." I answer by adding and joking a little.

Celestia looks surprised enough to break her mask, but that shifts to pleasant surprise after a moment and she chuckles. "Who are you and what did you do with Shade?" She jokes. She looks at Shining and laughs a little, "I'm guessing that was just an unintended bonus?"

I laugh along with her while Cadance to my side holds in her own laughter. Shining just looks beyond confused at the very informal tone me and Celestia use with each other, in fact he just stands there frozen trying to piece it all together in his mind. "Maybe. Sorry about breaking your stallion, but to be fair I haven't really pranked you yet."

Cadance loses her battle and bursts out laughing after a moment, she's able to recover quickly and not fully embarrass her stallion. "It took you long enough, I honestly thought you'd strike on the train last year, or maybe after in Griffonstone. It seems you really are excited, Shade Evergreen revealing his secrets." She says that last part mostly to herself and laughs again.

Shining seems to finally snap out of his thoughts and looks at me before turning to Celestia, back and forth a few times before he lands on me. "Wha... What?" I have to force myself not to laugh again as he looks baffled. "When? ... What?!" I fail after a moment and even Celestia giggles at his reaction.

I smile at him widely. "I said I work for the Princess, and I have regular meetings with her, both true. But we're more friends than anything else, it's not something I admit often. Actually, only three beings know about it and you're number three." I see a very large smile on Celestia's face when I admit that and I almost feel embarrassed at the slightly proud look she gives me.

Shining looks even more dumbfounded and snaps his head over to Celestia. Celestia smiles at him and nods happily. "It was a slow thing, but I am happy to count Shade among my friends. Even if he can be an utter fool sometimes." She jokes at my expense.

I just nod in agreement. "I still say it was worth it, how is that order I asked for by the way?" I hint about the gem without mentioning it by name or giving context.

She nods but before she can speak Shining finds his voice again. "Wait! You..." He turns to Cadance and looks questioningly. "Are they?" He trails off a bit and Cadance breaks down laughing again while I feel a blush overcome me at the implications, all while Celestia watches on thoroughly amused.

I quickly move to nip that in the bud. "No! No. No. We're just friends." I insist and glare at Cadance as she continues to laugh at me.

Celestia smiles softly and looks over her glasses. "You didn't have to be so insistent, it feels a little rude to be turned down so quickly." Her tone is clearly joking but the extra teasing doesn't help me and at this point, I'm just getting teamed up on. I want to bury my burning face in a pillow as even Shining looks amused at the new situation.

After another moment I sigh and look over to see that Shining has mostly recovered. He looks at me for a moment and shakes his head. "You make no sense. How many secrets do you have?" I shrug and he just seems to accept that after a few moments. "You are ridiculous."

I expected him to have more questions, but he seemed to just acknowledge this new fact and move past his shock quickly. Although he is a guard, getting over his shock quickly is something you need to be able to do in a fight. "I have another secret, Do you remember Entropy?" He gives me a tired look but still nods slowly.

I watch as his eyes become a little wary, while Entropy leaves my shadow to stand on my back. "Entropy is a very special Girl." I brag a little as he looks around for a moment.

He looks at me, Celestia, and Entropy before just taking his helmet off and sitting down on the couch. "I. I give up, this... Today makes no sense anymore." He admits while looking at Entropy. "What even is Entropy, some... I don't even know how to describe that." He seems to just give up on being shocked and starts to deflate a little and let his curiosity shine through.

I shrug again unhelpfully. "We don't really know, we think she's something called a Night Crow, but beyond that we're clueless." Entropy takes the opportunity to hop onto the couch and lie down next to Cadance to be pampered with pets. "She's also completely harmless, seriously just scratch her and she practically melts. Now, why am I here? And where are we going?" Most of this meeting has been fun but unproductive so I try to move things along.

Cadance pets Entropy while answering me. "Short answer? Aunty has something planned, no idea what though. As for where we're going? Feather Falls. A majority Griffon city, we'll be heading there for another trade deal." She explains vaguely and I turn to Celestia as she finishes her paperwork for a better answer.

She smiles at me and nods. "She's not wrong, but it's not nearly that simple. The trade deal is for several foods, a few other specialty trade goods too, along with something more delicate." She moves over and lays on the carpeted floor as the couch is full, and I decide to do the same so I have more personal space.

She passes me a few pages of paper to look over, they are mostly about our travel route. "Feather Falls is fairly inland on the eastern continent. The trip will be similar to the last one in path and length, but there is no direct train access to the city so some of the journey will be on the road." I don't mind walking a bit and nodding to continue.

She smiles at me and motions for my bags, so I silently take out and set up the chess board as she continues. "You'll get more information on Feather Falls later, for now, though the most important thing is its location and correct situation. It's located on the edge of the Wild Lands."

I can already see part of the plan and turn to her. "Information gathering?"

She nods. "Exactly, but the trade route is also important, the information is just another reason. But the situation there is complicated." She brings over a tea set and I pass her my kettle as she makes the first move on the board. All while Cadance and Shining are talking quietly to my left on that couch.

Shining leans into Cadance's side to talk very quietly so as to not be overheard. "Are they always like this? It's kind of... Cute. Are you sure they?" He whispers just loud enough for only her to hear.

Cadance smiles and nods slightly. "Yes they always are, they can talk for hours, literally. And well... Mmm." She whispers back not really answering his second question as Celestia continues her explanation and we remain unaware of their words.

"The city elects its ruler every decade or two, and that election is ongoing right now. But with how turbulent things are in the Wild Lands things will most likely not be so, tame, there. I'm not entirely sure to what degree though, a lot of my contacts from there are decades old and many are retired."

I nod interested. "Potential for conflict then, maybe even large-scale conflict depending on how involved the population is in this election. We're bringing enough guards right?" I voice my thoughts as we play but before Celestia can answer Cadance groans.

"Ugg! I didn't come here to hear MORE about politics. Hmm, I'm stealing Shining, have fun you two, and don't do anything too wild." I feel my blush come back full force as she literally picks up Shining in her magic and quickly leaves and walks to the door. "Make sure to get some sleep." I see Cadance smile at my embarrassment and leave the room with her stallion.

After the door closes I turn back to see an amused Celestia smiling at me. "Ignore her." I sigh after a moment and nod. "The train leaves in the evening tomorrow so you sleep in, and we still have most of the day free." She joins in on teasing me and I groan before covering my muzzle in my hooves as she laughs.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. :D
Current year is 995

This arc might last a while, I plant to have another continuation chapter after this one and this is all before we even start the trip, so buckle up.